Lawyer Skills

I don’t know about you, but I like to spend as much money as possible on my firm’s phone system while making sure it is as inflexible as Bakelite in winter—and nearly featureless. Wait. I may have reversed that. What I really like is to ...

Some years back, I worked in an office where the boss was obsessive about how callers were greeted on the phone. Then a new receptionist was hired who just could not get the phrasing to his liking—no matter how hard she tried or how many ...

It’s become an article of faith that lawyers are poor writers. That isn’t really fair. The problem is not with lawyers’ writing, I think; the problem lies with lawyers’ tendency to overwrite. Ask a lawyer for a tune and she’ll give you a ...

“I told him right to his face what the deal was. And you know what? That lying scumbag now claims I told him something else! I’m gonna nail him, his client and his client’s mother, if that’s what it takes to teach him not to lie to me!” ...

While you probably don't give it much thought, the value of answering your phone properly can be enormous. On the other end of a ringing phone may be a potential client worth thousands of dollars or someone who may be able to refer many new ...

When it comes to self-promotion, are you your own worst enemy? Sometimes you just have to get out of your own way and simplify your thinking about establishing a public voice and a presence—be it via the traditional media, social media or a ...

When I was an associate, the most prominent item on my desk was a big, black, ugly toad that sat on the front corner and stared at me expectantly all day, every day. Occasionally it would ring and I would be jerked from the safe haven of legal ...

With so much focus on the mechanics of marketing, there's not much space left for paying attention to competition—for actually getting the clients that your competitors want as much as you do. But isn’t competing for clients what the whole ...

It is easy for lawyers to slip into conflict with office staff, colleagues or service providers because most of us have never learned how to craft the kind of agreement that isn't about winning, but creates a meeting of mind and heart. The best ...

If you are a partner considering a move to another firm, you probably have two main reasons. The first almost always involves money. The second usually concerns personality factors or firm culture. That’s shorthand for “I’m ...